Ottawa Branch OGS December meeting

This coming Saturday, December 14, is a pre-Christmas bonanza for genealogy in Ottawa. There's a BIFHSGO meeting in the morning, which I'll profile tomorrow. In the afternoon, 1pm – 3pm, Ottawa Branch of OGS hosts a presentation Freiman’s Santa Claus Train by Andrew Jeanes.

Ottawa’s premier department store, Freiman’s, operated the Santa Claus train from 1956 to 1967. Santa boarded the train, surrounded by children, at Vars, whose former station is now preserved at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum. The arrival to a civic welcome at Union Station, followed by a parade down Rideau Street to Freiman’s was a major Ottawa event. Andrew Jeanes is a Culture Services Advisor at the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport and studied heritage conservation under Herb Stovel at Carleton University’s School of Canadian Studies. He will present the story of this favourite Christmas tradition.

The location is the City of Ottawa Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive, Room 115